Normal Range MMPI-A Profiles among Psychiatric Inpatients

Abstract

The present study examined the base rates of normal range Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) profiles in an inpatient sample and examined the differences between adolescents with apparently valid normal range profiles (all clinical scale T-scores < 60) and those with elevated profiles on prior interventions, reported internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and MMPI-A validity scale scores and other indexes of underreporting. Normal range profiles cannot be adequately explained by a less pathological history prior to hospitalization or by defensiveness. Thirty percent of male and 25% of female adolescents produced valid MMPI-A profiles in which none of the clinical scales were elevated. Both male and female adolescents with normal range profiles were generally less likely to report internalizing symptoms than those with elevated profiles, but both groups report externalizing symptoms. Neither the standard MMPI-A validity scales nor additional validity scales discriminated between profile groups. Clinicians should not assume that normal range profiles indicate an absence of problems.